YOUR SHOUT!

Well, They Might Be Giants, but it does leave the big question hanging: just how prog are they?

“For sure. Floor is a prog masterpiece.”

SEAN HOLLENHORS “Never saw them as prog. More avant-garde pop with aspirations to the genre.”

MARC HUGHES “Lifelong fan, but would say intelligent, quirky pop/ alternative more than prog.”

JIMMY FAWCETT “Of course they’re prog: they condensed the music of Yes into a brilliant one-minute song – Dallas (Trees).

Okay, probably prog-in-reverse.”

MYCHAEL GERTSENBERGER “I’ve never really listened to them but I am listening to their song XTC Vs. Adam Ant now. It’s prog based on the subject alone.”

LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN “Great band, prog in the sense that they are completely unafraid to experiment with musical styles… but not prog as we know it.”

KEVIN GOVER

“Prog like the Flaming Lips, which means very prog.”

BRAD WHITCOMB

“Delightfully eccentric.”

JOSEPHINE ELLIOTT “I agree with Josephine above – they are delightfully eccentric in the same way 10cc were, or even the Bonzos. It’s on the fringes of prog, because they are daring to create their own unique genre that cherry-picks elements of everything.”

STACY DOLLER “They somehow manage to be prog in three-minute songs, often much shorter. No fear of odd time signatures, mixing and swapping styles, or lyrics about science, art, history – art history in fact – and questions about the very nature of existence (where do they make balloons?). And like Porcupine Tree, they got better after they got off their PCs and brought in a real band.”

JOHN MYHILL “The only They Might Be Giants song I know is Birdhouse In Your Soul. Great song! A band

I have not yet explored. Think I’ll delve into their discography on my Premium Spotify account later.”

BRAIN WILSON “I discovered them via Mike Rutherford’s recommendation on TV back in the 80s. Often quirky time signatures. But prog? I think not.”

PHIL MORRIS

“Birdhouse In Your Soul is really good, but the joke wears thin after a while.”

JASON BARTLETT “Proggy, proglier, and progliest! Honestly, been waiting for this feature for a long time, and thought about writing one myself. The only ‘classic’ prog feature they're missing is long compositions – they've got narrative, storytelling, thematically unified songs; odd time signatures and time signature changes within compositions; rock music played with unusualfor-rock instrumentation; a total-album-experience approach to album art; and restless inventiveness. Pithy prog, clearly.”

RADIO ECLECTIC